Sinner passes stress test to begin Australian Open title defence

In his first match of the 2025 season, Jannik Sinner was given all he could handle as he opened his title defence Monday at the Australian Open. Dealing with a difficult draw against World No. 36 Nicolas Jarry, Sinner was pushed to the brink in the opening two sets before pulling away late for a 7-6(2), 7-6(5), 6-1 victory in Rod Laver Arena.

"I think today was a very close one because the first sets, they can go both ways," said the No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings. "In the third set, when I when I broke him the first time, that gave me a little bit of room to to breathe. He is an incredible player, huge potential, so I'm happy how I handled the very tough situation in the first couple of sets and happy to be in the next round."

Back at the site of his maiden major triumph, Sinner extended his winning streak to 16 matches dating back to October, with the past 14 wins all coming in straight sets. He also stretched his winning run at hard-court majors to 15 matches after sweeping the titles at the Australian Open and US Open last year.

"The crowd and the fans, they give me so much support and it's very nice to be back here," he added. "Obviously, I also like the hard courts here. But let's see, every year is different, every day is different... We'll try to improve obviously, I have a couple of things that I can surely do better, but first official match of the year for me, so I'm very happy."

Jarry enjoyed the vocal backing of many Chileans in the crowd and took the tennis to Sinner for much of the first two sets, creating the match's first two break points in the opener. Unnerved, the Italian showed the mentality of a champion by dominating the crucial moments. He cruised through the opening tie-break by playing lock-down tennis, then held on in the second-set tie-break after missing out on two set points on serve. Emblematic of the match as a whole, Sinner closed out the second set by playing within himself, baiting Jarry into an error after initiating a neutral rally on return.

This court. This player. Simply iconic.

Sinner seals the first round in straight sets after a vibrant battle against Jarry 🔥@australianopen | #AO2025 | @janniksin pic.twitter.com/1iiwfJkSDS

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 13, 2025

After claiming the first break of the match to open up a 2-0 lead in the third set, Sinner raced through the finish line to set up a second-round meeting with Aussie wild card Tristan Schoolkate, who later beat Taro Daniel 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 6-1, 6-4 for his first win at his home major.

Sinner withstood 40 winners from Jarry, according to Infosys ATP Stats, with the Italian posting dominant win rates on both first serve (83%) and second serve (70%). It was the pair's third Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting and their second since October, when Sinner came from a set down to defeat the Chilean in Beijing.

While he is defending 2,000 PIF ATP Rankings points this fortnight as the reigning Australian Open champion, Sinner's position as No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings is not under threat in Melbourne. He leads No. 2 Alexander Zverev by 2,995 points in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, with both players through to the second round.